Polishing is like any other activity “there is more than one way to skin a cat” in that yes you could use a large 5 hp Baldor machine with a 12 inch pad and whip it out in an hour or so. Just like paint and body work, the paint is only as good as the body work and no mater how shiny and smooth the paint is if the body is not straight or has waves no one notices how nice the paint is.
Cutting and polishing are two different processes that can be both completed on the buffer but with two completely different techniques. I use the tools I have to produce a straight wave free platform for the polishing process to build from, sure I could use a big buffer to do the majority of my cutting in a shorter time at the risk of waves orange peel, burnt edges and warps, not to mention with such a large piece and powerful machine it is very possible to loose control of the piece and have it thrown across the shop, the damage is not to bad with a small heavy cast alloy piece and it is usually more dangerous to the shop and its inhabitants as it turns into a flying projectile with mass and speed, but with a light and thin piece as a petrol tank it could be catastrophic. I choose to use a method that reduces the risk of damage to the piece while producing a straighter smoother base to do final cutting and coloring on the buffer at the cost of a few more hours of elbow grease.
I have a friend that does some polishing work for me from time to time when I need the help, he has a big machine with a 12 inch pad and likes to go straight to the wheel with a piece with out any prep other than cleaning. He has consistently returned pieces with a high degree of shine that have noticeable waves and un defined edges from excessive cutting to remove a deep scratch. One day I had two Triumph primary covers in with just about the same condition that needed to be finished in a short amount of time so I called him to do one of them. We both started at the same time and with in a few hours he was finished and i was just starting to do the final coloring on my piece. He brought the piece back and believe it or not his pice had much better color and shine than mine but didn't look half as good as mine with all the waves in his part. I gave him my part to finish coloring and I straightened out the waves in his part and gave it back to him to color. After it was all over we ended up with more time in his part and they both looked great.
TImes are slow and I’m working on my own bike so I don’t mine protecting my investment with a little more man hours and elbow grease, not to mention that I cant afford to replace this tank if I damage it trying to just knock it out in a few hours.
I sure hope it turns out as nice as my vision.
It took several months but the added space was worth it, except that it knocked me out of any thought of working on motorcycles while I was doing the construction.
